Review: Paul D. Brazill's "Drunk on the Moon"

[Benjamin Sobieck]

I'm not a fan of the crop of paranormal fiction from the past few years. Glistening vampires fighting ripped werewolves over some ancient what-not has zero appeal. Not that it's suppose to grab me. I'm a married guy from the Midwest living the middle class dream. Frustrated metaphors for puberty have passed me by.

 

But you know what I do like? Paul D. Brazill's Drunk on the Moon short story anthology. It features detective Roman Dalton, who is also a werewolf. On paper, I shouldn't like this at all. But Brazill is a noir guy through and through. One of the best noir writers today, in my opinion. So despite the paranormal elements, everything is filtered through the lens of crime fiction.

 

That's why Roman lives in a crime-infested, beyond dark hellhole known as The City. His activities revolve around three things: Getting shitfaced at Duffy's bar, kicking some crime lord ass and getting shitfaced at Duffy's bar. He drinks enough that it counts as two separate things. Throw in more otherworldly creatures (some of them - gasp - from the federal government), and you have a sense of Roman's world.

 

Brazill's writing is strong enough to have carried the short story series, but he went a different route instead. He got together a top crew of crime writers to carry the torch. Each of the authors wrote their own take on Roman's world. Some stuck to the plots Brazill introduced in the inaugural story. Others drifted into new territory, but stayed within Roman's "world."

 

This approach gives the anthology a lot of depth. Each short story refreshes Roman's world. You never feel "stuck" reading it.

 

Here's a rundown of the authors and the titles they wrote.

 

Drunk On The Moon/ Before The Moon Falls - Paul D Brazill (UK/Poland)

The Darke Affair - Allan Leverone (USA)

It's A Curse - K A Laity (USA/Ireland)

Insatiable - B R Stateham (USA)

Fear The Night - Julia Madeleine (Canada)

Getting High On Daisy - Richard Godwin (UK)

Silver Tears - John Donald Carlucci (USA)

Blood & Alcohol - Frank Duffy (UK/Poland)

Back To Nature - Jason Michel (UK/France)

A Fire in the Blood - Katherine Tomlinson (USA)

 

Click here to get Drunk on the Moon for Amazon Kindle or paperback.

 

P.S. I hear there will be a second anthology coming out closer to Halloween this year. Looking forward to it!

 

Read all my crime fiction book reviews here.